#66 - Bernie Parent

Bernie Parent (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #66)

Adjusted Stats

1965-1966  Bos       46 GP, 13-23-4, .375 win%, 2440 min, 152 GA, 3.73 GAA
1966-1967  Bos       21 GP, 5-14-2, .286 win%, 1197 min, 75 GA, 3.76 GAA
1967-1968  Phi        42 GP, 18-19-6, .488 win%, 2491 min, 114 GA, 2.74 GAA
1968-1969  Phi        63 GP, 18-25-17, .442 win%, 3631 min, 168 GA, 2.78 GAA
1969-1970  Phi        67 GP, 14-31-22, .373 win%, 3971 min, 195 GA, 2.95 GAA
1970-1971  Phi/Tor  50 GP, 17-20-9, .467 win%, 2761 min, 123 GA, 2.68 GAA
1971-1972  Tor       49 GP, 18-19-9, .489 win%, 2854 min, 122 GA, 2.57 GAA
1973-1974  Phi*      77 GP, 49-14-13, .730 win%, 4535 min, 138 GA, 1.82 GAA
1974-1975  Phi*      70 GP, 45-14-10, .725 win%, 4142 min, 126 GA, 1.83 GAA
1975-1976  Phi        11 GP, 6-2-3, .682 win%, 630 min, 22 GA, 2.11 GAA
1976-1977  Phi        63 GP, 36-13-12, .689 win%, 3613 min, 151 GA, 2.51 GAA
1977-1978  Phi        50 GP, 30-6-13, .745 win%, 2996 min, 103 GA, 2.07 GAA
1978-1979  Phi        37 GP, 16-12-7, .557 win%, 2028 min, 80 GA, 2.37 GAA

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1967-1968   Phi       5 GP, 2-3, .400 win%, 355 min, 8 GA, 1.36 GAA
1968-1969   Phi       3 GP, 0-3, .000 win%, 180 min, 12 GA, 3.96 GAA
1970-1971   Tor      4 GP, 2-2, .500 win%, 235 min, 8 GA, 2.11 GAA
1971-1972   Tor      4 GP, 1-3, .250 win%, 243 min, 12 GA, 2.99 GAA
1973-1974   Phi*     17 GP, 12-5, .706 win%, 1042 min, 34 GA, 1.97 GAA
1974-1975   Phi*     15 GP, 10-5, .667 win%, 922 min, 27 GA, 1.73 GAA
1975-1976   Phi       8 GP, 4-4, .500 win%, 480 min, 26 GA, 3.28 GAA
1976-1977   Phi       3 GP, 0-3, .000 win%, 123 min, 7 GA, 3.43 GAA
1977-1978   Phi       12 GP, 7-5, .583 win%, 722 min, 32 GA, 2.67 GAA
Career - 646 GP, 285-212-127, .558 win%, 37289 min, 1569 GA, 2.52 GAA
Career-Highs - 77 GP (73-74); 49 wins (73-74); .745 win% (77-78); 4535 min (73-74); 1.82 GAA (73-74)
Avg. (13 seasons) - 50 GP, 22-16-10, .558 win%, 2868 min, 121 GA, 2.52 GAA
Peak Avg. (70-79) - 51 GP, 27-13-10, .640 win%, 2945 min, 108 GA, 2.20 GAA, 2 Cups

Playoff Career - 71 GP, 38-33, .535 win%, 4302 min, 166 GA, 2.32 GAA
Playoff-Highs - 12 wins (73-74); .706 win% (73-74); 1.36 GAA (67-68)

Accolades - 2 Vezina Trophies, 2 Conn Smythes
All-Star Teams - 2-time 1st-team
2-time Stanley Cup Champion

Bernie Parent's ranking on the Pyramid is a perfect example of my feeling that it's better to have reached a remarkable peak, even if its for a brief time, than to have plodded through season after season amassing gaudy career numbers (i.e. John Vanbiesbrouck, Curtis Joseph). Throughout his thirteen years, Parent was certainly a good goaltender in perhaps ten of those seasons, but only four would be described as "banner years". And of those four, his two-year stretch from 1973-1975 is, without a doubt, what cements his legend as one of the most memorably successful goaltenders of his era.

A bit of backstory before getting into that stretch: like Billy Smith, Parent's early career numbers and winning percentage were anything but Hall-of-Fame worthy. But like Smith, he was given an opportunity to be the #1 goaltender for an expansion team. While Parent's GAA and personal play started improving, the Flyers were a work-in-progress, and Parent didn't have a winning record for his seven seasons in the league (hard to imagine). He was traded to the Maple Leafs where he split duties, before signing with Philadelphia's team in the WHA.

So you would not be in the minority if you were shocked by what followed when Parent returned to the NHL: playing almost every game for an improved Flyers squad, Parent went 49-14-13 with a sparkling 1.82 GAA in 1973-1974, led the Flyers to a shocking Stanley Cup win (the first by an expansion team), took home NHL 1st-team honours, the Vezina trophy, and the Conn Smythe trophy after going 12-5 in the playoffs. Suffice it to say, if fantasy teams had existed, Parent would have been the steal of the draft (or more likely, the waiver wire pickup of the year).

How did he follow it up? By doing the exact same thing over again: a +.700 win%, a sub-2.00 GAA, first-team honours, Vezina, Conn Smythe, Stanley Cup. That was Parent's pinnacle, and it's pretty much as impressive a two-year run as has been put together by a goaltender. No more Stanley Cup rings followed, but all told, Parent's post-WHA career was like a completely different goaltender. After never having a winning season to his name, Parent reeled off five straight years in which his winning % never dropped below .680. If it weren't for the Canadiens getting in the way, Parent may have had some more Stanley Cup rings to his name as well.

It's interesting to note that the best goaltenders of the 1970s were Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent, Tony Esposito (although mainly for the regular season), and Gerry Cheevers. Of those four, who were so much the face of goaltending in the 1970s, only Esposito carried on into the run-and-gun, post-Gretzky era, and even he retired by 1984. A not-often-discussed reason for the explosion in scoring in the 1980s, aside from changes in the game and an influx of remarkable talent at forward and defence, may have been the fact that a lot of the league's best goaltenders were gone, leaving only Fuhr and Smith to battle for those honours (and they often split regular season duties).

Of the great 1970s goalies who stopped playing before 1980, Parent's end is the most tragic. Cheevers and Esposito retired at conventional ages, Dryden left early but for his own eclectic personal reasons. Parent suffered this awful, career-ending eye injury (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIapUAfawtw) as the Flyers were still a perenially-contending team.

Considering that Parent was only 33, and that his previous six seasons had been the best of his career, it's fair to say that he should have had at least another three good years left in him. Now he's at around 375-400 career wins, and his regular season numbers aren't quite as underwhelming. Still, Parent's status in hockey lore is secure, because he was the backbone of the Broad Street Bullies, and for a stretch of about three or four seasons, he was all-but-unbeatable.